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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Saturday February 28th from 8am to Noon, the Pequannock High School Marching Band will host a pancake breakfast fundraiser at the high school cafeteria. Tickets are just $6 in advance ($8 at the door). There will also be a tricky tray raffle, though you do not need to stay in order to win!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

All Pequannock residents are advised to attend the Pequannock Board of Education Meeting November 17th at 7pm at the High School to prevent their taxes from being permanently increased without public input. Visitors may wish to bring a copy of their tax bill and be prepared to speak during the public comments portion at the beginning of the meeting.

The Pequannock Board of Education is about to engage upon an unconscionable act of hubris. Early Saturday, the Pequannock Facebook group saw a surprising post by Pequannock Board of Education Member, Tom Salerno. In that post, Salerno pointed out that the Pequannock Board of Education was set to vote on a measure which would completely eliminate voter input into the budget, effectively guaranteeing a school budget increase of 2% every year. The first such increase would occur next year at over $724,000.

Salerno's message stated in part:"This Monday night, November 17th, the Board of Education will be voting on Resolution PMC-127-15, a resolution that, if passed, will take away the community’s right to vote on the school board’s budget, as long as the budget stays within the 2% cap. If approved, this decision would increase the local tax levy by more than 2.5 million dollars over the course of the next four years, assuming the budget meets the 2% cap."

Salerno noted that though Pequannock taxpayers have been some of the most supportive individuals possible and have not voted down a proposed increase in years, the Board of Education will vote on this paradigm-shifting measure without any public forum or input from the taxpayers. They will literally vote themselves their own raise, without outside input.

Pequannock News produced the following spreadsheet of projected tax increases*:

Year #

Year

Projected Budget

Per Year Increase

Per Household Increase

0

2014-2015

$36,210,382.00

1

2015-2016

$36,934,589.64

$724,207.64

$111.92

2

2016-2017

$37,673,281.43

$738,691.79

$114.15

3

2017-2018

$38,426,747.06

$753,465.63

$116.44

4

2018-2019

$39,195,282.00

$768,534.94

$118.77

5

2019-2020

$39,979,187.64

$783,905.64

$121.14

6

2020-2021

$40,778,771.40

$799,583.75

$123.56

7

2021-2022

$41,594,346.82

$815,575.43

$126.04

8

2022-2023

$42,426,233.76

$831,886.94

$128.56

9

2023-2024

$43,274,758.44

$848,524.68

$131.13

10

2024-2025

$44,140,253.60

$865,495.17

$133.75

Total:

$7,929,871.60

$1,225.45

*Based on US Census Data of 6,471 households, schools budget as reported by NorthJersey.com.

As the spreadsheet demonstrates, Pequannock taxpayers can expect to pay an additional $1,225.45 over the next 10 years in addition to their already sizeable school taxes. Even worse, Pequannock taxpayers will have no public forum in which to discuss this change and when passed, Pequannock taxpayers will have no meaningful influence upon the schools' budget.